Snyper
by Dragon Dagger
Summary: A new assassin has appeared, and has announced its target. Can Togusa and the rest of Section 9 stop them before they finish their sweep of the old cabinet? post-Solid State Society
1. Prologue

A young girl appearing to be about 8-9 years of age is walking down the street lugging along a guitar case. Reaching her building she sits on the steps and looks out into the daily crowd of people before she sees the person she's been waiting for every day. As he approaches she begins to look a little lost, almost haunted even before regaining herself and smiling brightly for the man. "Sensei, how are you today?"

What looked to be an older gentleman, a grandfatherly type gently patted her head and smiled down at her. "I'm fine Youjo, have you been practicing all I have taught you?"

The girl looked away but nodded. "Hai." It was so hard to stay in character anymore when all she wanted was freedom to do as she wished. "Sensei, will I be able to perform like you someday?"

"Soon Youjo, soon. You are almost ready to take your place on stage." The elderly man smiled, and to everyone else it seemed as if he were praising the girl, when in reality he was looking forward to watching her in action. The years of training this girl had gone through would all lead up to a series of shots that would clean up the mess of the last cabinet. No one would suspect her, and that would put them all in the clear.

Youjo seemed pleased with the news that she would one day soon perform, but again, her heart wasn't in the announcement. "Thank you sensei for teaching me." With that they parted, knowing that the next time they met, she would have her first assignment and she would not be allowed to fail. 


	2. Chapter 1

It had been relatively quiet for Section Nine after they had finished the mop up work for the Solid State Case. Small fires would pop up here and there but were quickly suppressed by the prime minister's new willingness to listen to Aramaki's advice on how to handle such situations. Some were left to the police to handle, others the military, but only the most serious cases were brought to Section Nine and they where handled swiftly and silently. Well within the media's blackout timer.

On rare occasions the UN would request a member or two of Section nine for an operation. Togusa would normally oversee who would go and recently he had to send Saito back out over seas to put out a problem that had sprung up in South America. This was done only after Togusa had spoken to the sniper about it and had gotten the reassurance that this would not be a problem for the man who had spent time over in that area and had been recruited by Motoko while in Mexico.

They had all recently received word that he was returning home and reassured of their friend's health and wellbeing they focused on the main cause of the meeting they were in. The training regimen that Batou had brought to the table as a step up for the new recruits that had made it past the "FNG" stage.

While Togusa wasn't physically in the meeting, he still directed it with all the professionalism as if he had been there. It had been noted between Motoko and Aramaki that having him take the "Major's" spot as second in command of Section Nine had been a real growing experience for the man. It was now, after she had been gone on her own and watching over them that she could clearly see that his talents had been wasted keeping him in the field and not in a position where they could have been put to real use.

For Togusa, the comments about him being another Aramaki didn't bother him in the least. He knew what he needed to do and he did it. He had gotten over his insecurities after Motoko had come back and stayed on as a field agent instead of retaking her position as de facto leader of their squad. She was also a valuable source of information and advice in situations that he had little real world experience in. The more militaristic scenarios were some of them, but he was getting better calling the shots as he saw them and processing information quickly to make accurate guesses and decisions in the heat of the moment.

Everyone in the primary tactical group had grown in different ways. It was pleasing to Aramaki who has been watching this group since day one when he first got a hold of the Major and brought her in to work with him. He had watched Batou grow from a paramilitary specialist to someone who could teach those very skills to others. Ishikawa had grown, more confident in his skills at data manipulation, he had also learned when he could step in to take control of a situation. Everyone had grown, and the rookies were now growing because of it.

However Aramaki couldn't sit there and remember the "good old days". He had a meeting to get to and the Prime Minister would probably not care for it if he were late. Smiling at that thought he got into his car and headed out. Togusa knew where he was and he also knew that the Major would be meeting him at the central command building to discuss a new situation that had been coming to her attention. Normally Togusa would have been the one to go with him, but this morning he had a class to teach about tactics and couldn't have anyone else fill in for him since his plans were flexible to handle just how much the rookies were actually picking up.

It was in the middle of this class that Togusa's lecture was interrupted with a com link from Aramaki and Motoko. "Togusa, you're going to want to know about this. We've got trouble coming." Considering what he knew of their various teams, that Motoko had labeled it as trouble meant that the chances of team one being activated for the event were fairly high.

"What's going on?" He replied, holding his hand up in a 'wait one moment' gesture while he looked away from his students, a clear sign he was talking to someone via the coms.

"Someone's getting ready to do a spree of assassinations. Starting and ending with whomever was on the last cabinet." Aramaki answered, his tone neutral as he got when people were planning killings under his nose.

Togusa thought about it for a moment and replied. "I have to finish this class, but I"ll meet with you two as soon as it is over. Get all the information you can from the Prime minister and then take it to Ishikawa and Borma to see if they can't pick anything else out of it."

Both confirmed the plan of action and agreed to meet him in Aramaki's office after the two information divers came back with results. For now all he could do was continue his class and hope like hell this doesn't blow up in their faces.

The meeting with the Prime Minister however was not as smooth as anyone would like it to be. Even before the meeting opened Kayabuki handed Aramaki the notice that she and the other current cabinet members had received. Typed up, with no markings and on plain white paper that didn't show any water markings the Major and Aramaki both knew that this was not going to be an ordinary case for them. The fact that Prime Minister Kayabuki had called for them suggested that her sense of the situation was ringing alarms that put this case into their jurisdiction.

On the note were these words. 'In the days ahead, a cleansing must be done, out with the old, secure the new, so that peace may be contained.' No signature, or identifier was placed on the paper or the note, and looking at the envelope it was seen to be of the regular variety that could be bought at any stationary or office supply store.

All of the other letters that had been brought to the meeting had the same message, and lack of markings that could tell them where it came from or who was going to perpetrate the crime or even what the crime was going to be.

Getting back to Section 9's offices Motoko took the information they had and handed it over to the data hounds and told them what was going on. She told them that as soon as they had any information that would help them get this case off the ground a meeting would be called. With that she headed back up to Aramaki's office to discuss what was going on, and hopefully soon they'd be able to prevent this from becoming a full fledged problem. 


	3. Chapter 2

It was a full two days later when Ishikawa was finally able to call the meeting that would shed some light on the case they had been given. Hooking up to the virtual drive he had brought OT the meeting room he started on his presentation. "Based on the information given to us, we started looking for groups that would possibly want to cripple the Japanese government. Finding none that were active as of this moment Borma and Pazu went out to listen on the streets. Again, nothing but the whispers of some discontented citizens, but no more than one would normally hear with any government."

Pausing a moment to bring up the AV section of the presentation he continued. "On the net there have been whispers however of a new assassin that has been lurking about. Nothing has been said of their skill or even if they are active in the country. All that is known about them is they tend to take out their targets and vanish into thin air."

"You've been working for almost 48 hours on this and this is all the information you have?" Togusa was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more to go on, but the idea that another assassin was in Japan worried him.

"If the information was there to be had, I'd have found it by now. Even Proto wasn't able to find anything when we asked him to do a search." This did surprise Togusa. Knowing who and what Proto was, it was surprising that the bioroid wasn't able to find anything.

An alert call however interrupted the meeting as one of the operators tagged into the com channel. "Chief, Prime Minister Kayabuki is on the line and says that it is urgent."

"Patch her through." The immediate reply came.

"Aramaki, things have started to unravel again." The odd phrasing caught all of their attention as she continued, "One of the previous Cabinet members has been found in his home shot through the head. I wish for you to investigate this as it may well be linked to the notes the current cabinet have received."

Aramaki nodded in agreement. "I will have one of my teams out at the location soon. Please have the police keep the area secured, but do not have them start their investigation. This is now a Section 9 matter."

Agreeing Kayabuki signed off and everyone turned to the Chief. "Togusa, I want you to pick a small team for this investigation. You have all of the information we have currently, I want to make sure that this is what the notes were talking about." A sharp nod from the former police investigator was his response and he looked at the others. Ishikawa, Proto and myself will go to the scene to investigate there. Batou, I want you and Pazu to go and search the surrounding area of the scene. See if you can't find anything that might tell us how the shooting was done and how the perpetrator got close enough to shoot. Major, I'd like for you and Aramaki to go and have a chat with the Prime Minister, I also want someone there with her should something happen and we need to pass along the information quickly."

The plan was agreed upon and executed. Proto had gotten past the FNG stage of his training ans was a fully fledged member of Section 9. This allowed for a slightly wider variation in his personality to show and Togusa knew that the young bioroid had a slightly different outlook on things. That was something he was hoping would help them as they went over the crime scene. The bioroid's time as a Red Coat would allow him a greater sense of the scene, something Togusa would lean heavily on as the information came. Ishikawa was also an excellent on site investigator, but his skills in data manipulation were almost second to none. This would allow them all the time needed to hack whatever sources came up in the investigation. He was personally going because there was something about this case that was bothering him.

As they each arrived at their respective scenes, the feeling that something wasn't going to add up increased. "everything is going to be looked at, no matter how small." Was the only order he gave before splitting off to the far corners of the house. Each took a corner and made their way towards the kill scene. Nothing was touched or out of place in any of the rooms save for the police barricaded study.

Each opening up their kits they went to work gathering everything they could from the room that had been around the former cabinet member before his death. Computer, external drives and the like were all taken. Finger prints phone recordings and other information from the written logs on and in the desk were bagged and tagged as well. When they finally got around to the corpse itself they all noticed that the man had a relaxed look on his face. As if he had been relaxing from a day of hard work and had never known that he would die that evening. Pictures were taken, and the window was looked at. A small hole was found and pictures were taken of that as well. The glass that had been shattered away from the hole had been found on the floor on the inside of the window and they all became acutely aware that this had been an external job.

Alerting Batou and Pazu for what to look for they continued on their looking around. As they looked at the corpse they realized that there wasn't an exit wound to correspond with the entrance wound in the head. Taking this as a good sign they had the body bagged and sent to their own lab for analysis just before Pazu came back with the results of their search. "Togusa, you might want to bring Saito back for this investigation. We found marks on a tree about a kilometer out from the house that indicate that a tree stand had been in place for a bit of time. Beyond that there's not much to find out here, not even foot prints to tell us where the assassin went or came from."

Togusa sighed internally as he heard he was dealing with yet another sniper. "Good work. bring anything you've found back to the labs and let them work on it for now. I think we have this wrapped up for the moment. Now its up to the techs to tell us what all this data means other than things are about to get squicky."

"Where are you going now?" Batou came back, wondering what had gotten under the normally calm agent's skin.

"Home. I'm going to need to spend some time with my family again before I get stuck at the office again to handle this." The others were vaguely surprised that he would be thinking of his family at a time like this, but realized that if they had family they would probably want some time with them to sustain them through a rough patch as well.

Everyone left the scene and Togusa handed his information kit over to Proto he smiled slightly. "Thanks for coming on this one. Hopefully you and the rest of the lab team will be able to tell us what happened and how by the time Saito gets back." Both knew that Ishikawa had already sent the recall order out to Saito when they had all realized they were dealing with another sniper. Soon they'd all have his expertise to lead this case and they all hoped that they could catch this one before anyone else got hurt. 


	4. Chapter 3

Saito was halfway around the world and surprised to get the recall message in the middle of the meeting he was in with the ministers of defense in Mexico. Standing he was also slightly relieved that he was going to be home sooner than he had hoped, even if it did mean he'd be jumping from one case to another. "I've been recalled to Section 9. Something has happened that requires my skills back home."

The national government tried to halt his progress from the airport when one of the UN inspectors came up to them with the written order to recall the Section 9 specialist. From there Saito was given a packet that was for his eyes only that he was to read on his way back across the Pacific. This was indeed a case that was going to need his skills. Despite what he had taught some of the other sharp shooters about snipers, most of the time anything dealing with them was handed over into his capable hands. This one was going to be especially interesting as it looked like whomever was his opponent this time wasn't leaving much evidence behind. That alone was the sniper's calling card.

In a far off section of town from the Section 9 building a meeting was taking place. "Sensei, The performance was a success. What did you think?"

The elder gave a small smile, knowing that the young girl before him was really older than she looked. "You did well for your first time on stage. Let us hope that you will be able to continue to perform so well under pressure." Handing her some sheet music they parted ways with the understanding that she would learn the music and perform once again to expectations. She was an exceptionally gifted young woman, and to let her skills go to waste would be a crime in her sensei's eyes.

It was over the course of the next few weeks that a pattern began to emerge. Saito was the first to see it, knowing what to look for in his opponent. The meeting wasn't very informative, but Saito's ability to think like his opponents was very quickly coming in handy on this case. "The sniper is getting orders to take these people out. One at a time. There aren't many of the old cabinet left for them to hunt down, but they are taking their time about it, making sure that what they do doesn't reflect on any one person. However given the pattern of the kills, I'd say that this," At this he pulled one of the remaining files up. "Would be their next target."

Everyone took a look at the next proposed target and Aramaki nodded. "Good work Saito. We'll set up a perimeter around the target. I want you to head up this team Saito since you know what to listen and look for." Togusa agreed with this plan and walked out of the room to alert the Prime Minister to the events that would be taking place in the next few days.

The watch was long, and boring. Saito was the only one who wasn't getting twitchy about the lack of action. He knew what it was to hunt a target, to wait for that one perfect moment where he could take out his target and leave without being seen in the resulting chaos. Looking around he watched various sniping posts that he thought they would need to eyeball. What he hadn't yet realized was that he had been seen, identified and was now the target. At least he didn't know that he was the target until a soft voice whispered across his personal com link "Freeze."

The one word made him go completely still. Looking around as much as he could he told the others on the frequency to look for a hawkeye linkup to the satellites that were above them. Nothing came back. It was the moment they had gotten this confirmation that the bullet slammed into Saito's left shoulder shattering the mechanical elements and out the other side into the tree that he had been posted in as they watched the house of the man he had called as target.

Calling for help, Saito was irritated that he had been out shot by another sniper. This one was good, and now they knew a little more about what to look for. She, for the voice on his com channel had a female flavor to it, had intentionally shot him where it would do the most damage to his skills but the least amount of damage to his biological components. This sniper knew who he was and how to keep him down long enough to prevent her capture.

While he was thinking about all of this and putting the information together he heard the distant sound of another shot being fired. Knowing they would be too late to save the ex-cabinet member he reported it anyway. "I'll have more information on our sniper to present once this is cleaned up." Came the information to the Major and to Aramaki.

As everyone was gathered in the meeting room Saito was there, his cybernetic arm missing from the socket it had been in. "The sniper is female, she's been well trained, taking out the only threat to her mission before taking out the target. The only thing that doesn't fit with her job is that before she shot me, she had hacked into my personal com channel and told me to freeze. Almost as if she didn't want to do any more damage to me than was absolutely necessary to put me out of commission for that mission."

"You mean she could have taken you out with a head shot and all she did was shatter your left arm so you couldn't shoot back?" Batou had been on one or two of Saito's missions and had a pretty good idea how snipers worked. If they were up against another sniper, the first rule for them was to kill the other sniper so that they wouldn't have to handle the problems of the competition or getting caught.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. If I didn't know better I'd say that her shot at me wasn't planned for this mission, but instead was a case of 'if there...' if you understand what I mean." Saito looked up at the Major and knew that she understood what he was talking about.

"Someone knows who you are, and has leaked this information to our sniper. This is going to make our jobs that much harder now that she knows that there is a sniper on this team working against her. She's going to take her time with her targets, and make sure that she is able to succeed." Motoko said, knowing that this was going to be considerably harder as they all knew now that the other sniper was also shooting without a hawkeye to aid them.

There was only one target left. Youjo knew that if she got this target without getting caught she would be free for a short time. The only thing that would hold her back would be the fact that her body had been chosen for how it looked and what it could do. It was a class A prototype that she had been given, and if she were to change to another body she would need an adjustment period to handle it. However she no longer cared. She knew that the little voice in her was screaming that what she had done was all but seal her capture by Section 9 by letting their sniper live. But she couldn't help but wonder if maybe that was what she wanted all along. She had held detailed dossiers on each member of the Section 9 organization, and knew that they would find her eventually. What they did after they heard her story would be another thing all together.

For now she was content to let this mission sort itself out in her mind as she soaked in a deep tub. It had been her own way of rewarding herself after a successful performance. Her sensei had already been by to tell her that he was disappointed in her not taking out Saito, but had praised her for succeeding in her primary performance. 


	5. Chapter 4

Decisions were made, Saito had all but told them that even if they took him off the case, he'd still work on it now that this had become personal. Knowing the cunning of the sniper, Motoko looked over at Togusa and nodded. "Fine, you stay on the case, but don't let your feelings get mixed up in this too far." With that agreed upon Saito went back to get his left arm initialized, he would need it for this last round with their sniper opponent.

Youjo looked around, she looked like a lost girl carrying her guitar case, not anything like she really was. A deadly sniper who was now working against her assignment to help those that were trying for her capture. She knew the pathways to Saito's com channel, it was a case of hacking it again. She would have her chance soon as she watched her target carefully, all she had to do was wait until he made his stop in the coffee shop he normally frequented.

Saito wasn't going to worry about the case itself until the next target was due for assassination. It would be a few days and now that he knew more about his opponent he knew that he was also on the target list as well, that was the only thing he watched for. However it had been a nice day and while he was out gathering information he made his stop into the coffee house he frequented. As soon as he stepped into the door, he felt the connection he had locked out open up again. Moving nonchalantly to a corner booth where he wouldn't be targeted easily from he waited for the assassin to open the dialog.

"You're no slouch Saito, it's an honor to work against you." The words whispered across the connection, and somehow instinctively he knew that even trying a back hack would cause her to move on, and right now he wanted answers.

"What do you want with me?" He asked, his face and body were relaxed as the waitress brought out his regular beverage but inside he was tense.

"We're snipers. Our world is not the world of the others, no matter how hard they may try to understand, they never will. We are specialists of a high caliber and a rare and dying breed."

"Agreed, but what does that have to do with my bringing you in?" Saito was now confused. He wasn't picking up a negative vibe from the person, in fact the whispering voice seemed almost relieved to have someone to talk to about the world she found herself in.

"You are possibly the only one in the world who stands a remote chance of bringing me in. But in doing so you will open Pandora's Box again. To bring me in, you will need far more than your skills as a sniper. What can you offer me should I make it so your team can bring me in?"

Saito's eye opened wide at that question. The sniper was offering a chance to take her out. It would probably be the only time they would get this chance before she disappeared into the mists she came out of for this assignment. "What do you think I can offer you?"

"Freedom." Her ghostly response was confusing. If they brought her in, she would not have freedom, she would be killed or placed in custody for her crimes.

"I can not promise you what you ask."

"But you can. I don't ask for freedom from the jails, I ask for the freedom to make my own choices in life, the freedom to grow and understand others."

Saito's hand put the coffee cup down and his eye closed puzzling over the information he was being given. Like many females he had known, she was being round about and vague. But in this case, he had a feeling she had to be to protect herself, and him if what he was getting from his gut was right. "You are making a choice now. Why?"

"Because what I'm doing is wrong. Even knowing what I do, I can not stop what I'm doing, not yet. An outside force must be what stops me before this cycle can be stopped." A simple explanation. One that spoke volumes to the sniper.

"You're being forced into this. Someone holds your leash." Even as he said this in his mind, he knew that the contact was gone. The next time she contacted him he would find out who she was. Maybe there was something they could do to help her stop this as she wanted.

Sleep that night was elusive for the Section 9 sniper. However when it finally came there were dreams that he had not had for years. However they had changed. The snipers he had faced off in the past, even the major, all of these memories were there that night, and each of them had a face and that face was the same. A young girl with sad black eyes looking out at him from behind a sniper scope.

When Saito woke the next morning he knew she had hacked him, only to give him something that would only help their case. He could tell that she wasn't being malicious in her hacks, only going in far enough to leave clues as to who she was and where she could be found. Looking around he noticed that he was going to be late for an update meeting this morning. The wait on his teammates would be worth it though if he could get Ishikawa to help him with this. He needed to get that image out of his mind and onto a screen to show everyone else what they were up against.

The meeting was productive in the means of getting plans set up. However when Saito came in it was only the look on his face that kept Togusa from chiding the older team member for his tardiness. "What do you have for us Saito?"

"I know what our target looks like." Sliding the small disk over to Togusa he waited for her picture to come up on the main screen before starting. "Someone other than this assassin is behind the killings. She is just the weapon."

"How do you figure this?" Batou asked, truly curious what had gotten the quiet man to open up on this case.

"She hacked my com again yesterday. She didn't do it to take a shot at me though, in this case she left some important information. It took me a while to get all of the information but I think we stand a good chance of bringing her in." Looking up at the picture of the young girl he wondered at the maturity a girl this age possessed.

"You just let her hack your com without alerting any of us?" Togusa was a little irritated that this had happened but held his temper as Saito looked at him straight on to speak.

"Yes. There is no malice towards myself or any of Section 9. In fact she wants to be stopped. She knows what she is doing is wrong and wants to be stopped, but she can not stop it on her own. Someone has a tight leash on her and its preventing her from biting back at them to stop this." Looking down at his hands for a moment he looked up again. "She wants freedom, not from the jail sentence she is certain to receive for this, but to make her own choices in what she does in life. I don't expect any of you to understand what I heard yesterday, as most of it is only understood by those of us who are or have been snipers. She needs to be taken out of the situation she's in. I get the feeling she is older, much older than her face suggests."

Motoko had not seen this side of Saito, but her ghost whispered that this was a part of him that he normally kept concealed from the rest of them. "We'll try it your way Saito. If you can bring her in without too much damage, then it'll be your call. But if she makes another kill, we do it Togusa's way."

Saito nodded, understanding the situation. One way or another the sniper had to be stopped. A flattened smack against the meeting room window caught all of their attentions. Nothing at this level should be able to hit the window, not even the birds were encouraged to be around the building. Seeing the pancake round that had stuck to the window, Saito immediately knew who had shot the round and knew that it was his warning that the girl was going to move, soon.

Running out of the room he grabbed his standby rifle and ran to the roof. Looking around at the other buildings that would have potential shot access to that floor and window of the Section 9 area of their tower, he found her former location. Abandoned already, but could tell that she had been serious. She had waited for him to be in that room enough to tell them what had happened before firing her shot. It had been intentionally non-lethal, and had not done any lasting damage to the building. It was truly a warning. "Major, we will need to check the camera and IR records of the street level of the building. If she was able to make that shot, she's seen where we meet before and has probably been around here before.

Down on the street a young girl took her guitar case, and walked away. "Come and get me Saito" She whispered before disappearing into the crowd. 


	6. Chapter 5

Two nights later everyone in Section 9 was briefed on the assignment and then posted. Saito knew that he did indeed have the best chance to bring her down and using everything he had learned and known over the years finally pinpointed a one block area where she would possibly be hiding to make her final shot.

As a building to building search was being conducted, Saito was out on top of a taller building, keeping his com lines open and listening to all of the reports that came in. Nothing had been found that would indicate she was there. He knew this would be difficult, she couldn't just come out and surrender, the someone holding her leash was making sure of that. If she was able to do that she probably would have turned herself over the day they had spoken while he was in the coffee shop.

He finally felt the com channel open again and heard the whisper. "Freeze."

"Not this time," He murmured back, "You'll have to make the shot on a moving target." Running across the rooftop he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand, and old warning that he always heeded. Ducking into a log roll he heard the sound of the bullet embedding itself into the concrete of the rooftop. It had been a close shot, and had his movement not been unexpected and abrupt she might have even hit him regardless of her lack of hawkeye. She was good, he had to give her that. So good he was almost tempted to take her in and recommend her to Section 9 after all of this was done. Anyone who could hack com channels and target without a hawkeye like she was would be nothing but an asset.

He caught a lucky break when she fired another shot, this one completely missing him. "She's trying to tell me where she is!" He thought to himself before pulling his own rifle up and opening his hawkeye. Getting the location triangulated was easy and seeing the slight movement in the window of another building one block over he aimed and took his shot. "Major, she's down at this location." He called out over the com channel letting the Major and Togusa know where the sniper was and that she was still alive. Much like what she had done to him, he had only fired to disable her.

Running over to the building he met Togusa outside the door of the apartment that he had indicated was her origins. Breaking in the door Saito was still surprised to see the figure laying still next to a rifle he had never seen before. The girl couldn't have been more than eight or nine years of age, until he looked at her arm and realized that she was probably 98% cyborg.

Togusa couldn't believe what he was seeing. A girl, a little girl who could have been his daughter's friend from school was the one taking out all of these targets. "Saito, the Major made this your call."

The girl looked over at the former police officer and smiled. "I will not resist. Saito has defeated me fairly, I will hold to my word."

Togusa glared at his comrade before pulling out the restraints. "We will take you into Section 9's custody miss."

He realized that the restraints weren't really needed when she rolled over to try and sit up. Her left side had been shredded from shoulder to hip from the high powered round Saito had shot. "We'll also make sure that you're able to survive the trial." He added, seeing that Saito had been looking at him steadily throughout the whole situation.

"Thank you Saito." Her dark eyes closed as she went into her system resources and shut down the pain receptors and neural nets that helped her to control those sections of her body. With those sections shut down from movement, Batou came in the door and picked up the girl.

The case was over, or at least this section of it was. Saito's briefing had let them all know that there was someone else behind her movements. If she was willing to talk, it would not only mitigate her own situation with the justice system, but would close this case that much faster.

Days later the interrogation finally started. In that time, those that were of the normal interrogation team only found out that she was called Youjo, because of her body type, and that she was a new breed of cyborg, and she wanted out of the body she was in and into one that suited her real age. Instead of the nine years she looked like, she was really twice that age. Taken in by the imperial guard when her parents died. Her parents had been avid sportsmen, hunting, fishing, trapping and the like. So by the time she was 16 she was an expert shot, and hard to track in any situation, and a master at the game of patience.

Any information about the people that had taken her in or why she was still in the child's body was refused. "I will only speak of that to Saito. He's the only one that would understand." Was her reply to the questions. Three days later, it was time for interrogation again and Youjo had received a bit of a shock. She knew that the heads of Section 9 were watching from behind the mirrored glass, but instead of a regular interrogation specialist Saito was the one to walk through the door.

"I've been informed that you won't talk to the interrogators about your assignment. You will tell me about it and you will not be sparing on the details." Was all the quiet man said, watching the girl who was now confined to the wheel chair as she couldn't move on her own with her neural net on her left side shut down. Looking at the mirrored window, she closed her eyes and finally seemed to relax.

"I will tell you." She replied and began her story. "My parents died in a plane wreck a little over 2 years ago. In that time I was brought into the imperial household under the aegis of one of the guards. My skills in hunting and tracking were noticed and I was put into a special program. Later on, during one of my tests, I found that my parent's plane had been sabotaged in order to bring me to the palace and under the notice of the people I now worked for. Sensei tightened my leash at that time, making sure I could do nothing about what I had learned. My body was replaced with a cybernetic one, I was allowed to refuse one implant of my choice, I chose the hawkeye, much to the surprise and disappointment of my Sensei."

Saito's eyebrow lifted when he heard that she had voluntarily refused something that would have made her a better shot. "Why did you refuse the hawkeye?"

"Because I didn't want to become dependent on something that would have been used to track me down. Any sniper worth their salt knows about the hawkeye and how to back hack it. I was a good shot, the cyborg body made me a better shot by eliminating some of the human errors such as muscle fatigue and other problems, I didn't need the hawkeye to get me in trouble." Her reply was well thought out and understandable. Nodding Saito indicated that she continue with her story.

"Finally I learned why I was being put through such rigorous training and in such a tiny body. I was to be an assassin for the Imperial house in case any members of the cabinet or Imperial senate were to get out of line." Shaking her head her eyes refocused on Saito and the here and now. "I had the case files for what happened when Kayabuki came into office. I researched what happened and who did what. I didn't need to hack the files because I had the clearance to look at them without getting caught. You and Section 9 impressed me with your selective clearing of the bad apples. But the time came that I was to go on duty." Shifting a little in the chair, it was her only indication of her discomfort at being left half helpless.

"I was to completely clear out the old cabinet to secure the new one. The Emperor himself signed my orders and I was sent off, one target at a time. It was when you came back into the country that I was finally able to act out against the orders I had been given. While you were watching for me, I hacked your com and told you to freeze before I took my shot. I wanted your attention completely on me. It would let me indicate that something was wrong."

Saito nodded, indicating that he had gotten and passed along that message. "You were well trained, you could have killed me and I would have never seen it coming. But you only disabled me, that screamed something was up."

Youjo nodded with a slight smile that to the shock of those in the monitoring booth was returned. Perhaps there was something in the world of the snipers that could only be understood by another member. "The rest you know. My capture was at your hands, and like myself, instead of a kill shot, you merely incapacitated me which has lead to our meeting here."

"That it has. Tell me, do you think you have your freedom now?" Saito referred back to their conversation in the coffee shop.

A slight smile lifted the girl's lips. "Yes. And despite the physical freedom I don't have, the freedom of the mind and soul feels wonderful. For that I thank you. My real name is Cathryn Yourin, and amongst the other information I have given you and your superiors, I now fully submit myself to the legal system for my trial." 


	7. Chapter 6

Saito looked over the girl and sighed internally, this girl, no young woman as he knew her real age now. She was going to be a difficult case for the justice system. She had known what she was doing was wrong, but had been strong armed into the position of royal assassin. Her body had been chosen for its ability to move through crowds and the fact that no one would even think that a young girl would be capable of what she had been doing. Only her mental age and her knowledge of who she really was kept her from losing her sense of self while under those trying conditions. The one thing that he would do for her, is make sure she got a body more suited to her true age. He never spent any of his money outside of his living expenses so this would only put a small dent in his accumulated savings.

Leaving the interrogation room he saw one of the interrogators who was not happy that the girl had developed a case of verbal diarrhea while the sniper had been in the room. But there were just some things you don't feel you can tell others unless they know where you've been and why you did what you did. Nodding to the interrogators he indicated that they were done for the day and then moved on to the monitoring room where he knew Aramaki would be found. "Well?"

"Her case will be extremely difficult to try. Knowing what we do of her situation and that she willingly did what she could to give us time to find and apprehend her. The fact that the Imperial household has been fingered in this investigation will make it that much harder to pin anything on those that were pulling her strings. Rest assured we will get to the bottom of this. I do however believe it would be for the best to hold her here at Section 9 until the trial. If the Imperial House is indeed a part of this as was spoken about, then they will try to silence her as a connection to them. My only question now is, why did she wait for you to come back into the country to do anything about her situation?" Aramaki leveled a look at the sniper that suggested it would be wiser to answer.

"Sometimes, you can only speak freely with those who will understand your situation. The Major brought me into this organization and I'm grateful. But to Cathryn, she wasn't just hired as a freelance, and able to renege on her contract. Only another sniper would understand what she had to do, and the signs she had been throwing out as hints as to who she was and what she was doing. Each of her kills were done in such a way that the target felt little to no pain as they were killed, she had no wish to cause more pain than was necessary. The freedom she spoke of was the freedom to choose her own assignments if she should decide to stay in the world we live in. Once she has a new body and has trained herself into it, I'm certain that she will stay in that world. What we do about her then boils down to how badly do we want to risk having her as an opponent again in the future." With that parting thought Saito walked out of the room, leaving Aramaki, Motoko and Togusa with a large plate of thoughts to chew on.

It took several more months of investigation, but with Cathryn's willing cooperation, the investigation unit of Section 9 found all they needed to implicate many members of the Imperial House with conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, assault, and several other charges that had come up during the course of their investigation. It had come as a large surprise that the Imperial House would stick its nose into the political business as far as they had, but they had seen the proof and in the attempts saw that they were puppet masters of the highest order.

It took another year for the trials to complete, and the last of all the trials had been for Cathryn. As she had been a witness for the prosecution in each and every case before, this had loaded down her case considerably. Now the Prosecutors had to take what they knew of her case and use it to prosecute her, despite the fact that she had been nothing but help during the process for everyone else.

Looking around the empty court room, Cathryn was still confined to her wheelchair. Her parts that had been shattered had been replaced so that she could get them reinitialized, but by her own choice she left the neural net dormant so that she could reassure those that held her that she would not be a problem or a threat. It irritated her that she was still stuck in such a small body. She remembered what it was like to be able to see over some things with her mostly grown natural body. However she had a regular visitor and it helped to quell the irritation she felt at her situation.

"Squirt." He greeted her with a slight smirk on his face, knowing that it irritated the living daylights out of her to be reminded of her child like status.

"Old man." She returned the greeting, knowing that while he really wasn't that much older than her, it bugged the hell out of him on another level to have the disrespect returned.

Saito and Cathryn glared at each other for about five seconds before smirking. "About time you came back to visit."

"Well I've been a little busy lately. You and your little performance in the courtroom gave me a lot of work and I've had to put together several presentations about snipers, their skills, and potential." This was only half the truth of course, there was a part of his time that he had been spending the last few days on that had been devoted to finding the young woman an acceptable body to replace the one she was housed in now. After all, his new partner shouldn't be anything less than someone he could respect. That respect would carry over to everyone else they worked with as well.

Having done some research, he had found images of what she had looked like as a teen and had a face sculptor design a face around it so that she could once again be herself. This face however was a few years older than the teen picture and hopefully would allow her to work easily with others in the teams. This all was being kept a secret however. Aramaki had still not gotten complete clearance from the prime minister for this addition to the team, though Saito was fairly certain it would come today.

He was right and he smirked slightly as his meeting with Cathryn was interrupted by the guards. "Please come with us." Was all they had said. They of course had not been told the details of her release, only that Saito was to take her into his custody as soon as they had released her.

Standing he nodded to the young woman who looked up at him questions written all over her face. "Go on, I'm sure its nothing serious."

"Nothing serious my ass." Cathryn grumbled to herself as she was told to strip down from her prison wear. When she rolled behind the dressing curtain she was surprised to see civilian wear there. Granted it wasn't anything special, but it was enough to tell her that she was being released from incarceration. Dark blue jeans and a t-shirt with the phrase 'You want a piece of this.' on it made her laugh. Dressing quickly she surrendered to the irritation of having her hands bound despite the fact that she still couldn't use her left hand.

Coming back out through a different set of doors she saw Saito waiting for her with a slight smile on his face. "Why am I being released?" she asked, confusion and suspicion warred for dominance on her face.

"Its been decided that you'll serve your time much better under the watchful eyes of Section 9. From this point on you're to be considered my partner and once we get back to the tower, we'll do something about your lack of height." Saito laughed as outright fury exploded onto the girl's face and dodged as she took a swipe at him from her chair.

"You jackass. I shoulda known better than to let you talk Aramaki into that." Her eyes were dark and still as she let him close enough to push her out the doors and into the car he had used to get to the incarceration facility.

"Actually being my partner wasn't my idea. I was, and still, firmly of the opinion that you should be partnered with one of my old partners. Someone who wasn't a sniper, but knew enough about what we do to give you support on your assignments." Saito's face fell to serious lines as he explained over their drive back to the tower what had happened in the time after her trial. When he was done doing that he knew that he had her attention so he dropped his surprise. "When we get to the tower you have an assignment waiting for you."

"What?! My left side isn't even initialized and you guys are throwing me out into the field already?!" Saito knew he had better explain quickly or she'd become a handful right quick.

"Hold on Cathryn, its not what you think." Noting that she had put the breaks on her temper for the short term to hear him out he moved on to the details of the mission. "We have several uninitialized bodies ready for use, your assignment is to pick which one you wish to use and get ready for the body transfer. I took the liberty of doing a little research on you so the body that you'll have will be a little bit taller than you were when you were 16. Also a face sculptor is sitting on hold waiting for you to get into the body so that he can give you your face back, albeit a little older." 


	8. Chapter 7

Cathryn sat in shock. She was getting a new body, one that was being customized for her use. She had to pick out features and everything. Reaching over with her right hand she let it rest on the older man's arm. "Thank you. Section 9 could have left me in this body and I would have gotten by fine."

"Ahh, but you wouldn't have liked it. I've already seen what you're like when people mistake you for the child you look like. This way you won't have to worry about that when you go out on a routine assignment that will require you to have contact with others." The car fell silent as both retreated to their thoughts. Saito's reflecting what he knew of the young woman, and the question of what she would look like once she had gotten her body back to a proper size. Her temperament seemed to scream that she was good for anything but sniper work, however he had seen her unending patience when she knew it mattered. It was an interesting contradiction that he knew he'd have fun watching while they were out on their assignments.

Cathryn on the other hand wondered why this particular member of Section 9 continued to torment her the way he did. She knew as well as he did that all she'd have to do is disappear and she'd have his head on the end of her rifle. So why did he push her buttons like he did. Giving it some thought she finally came to an acceptable answer. The same reason she pushed his buttons in return.

Each knew enough of the others personality to know what buttons were safe and which ones to stay away from when teasing, and were comfortable enough around each other to do so. Anything relating to combat or past combat situations were off limits between the two until they knew each other well enough to know which of those buttons were safe. Most of the buttons relating to personality quirks or their current physical height difference were fair game, and if Cathryn admitted to herself, the nickname of squirt and old man were probably going to stick as an inside joke between the two of them long after anyone else had forgotten that she had once been trapped in the body of a child.

As they headed up the elevators to the Section 9 department, Cathryn started to get nervous. No longer was she working for the assassination squad in the government. Her work would take on a whole new meaning, she had read up on Aramaki and his standards were indeed high. For him to accepted her even without seeing how she worked in a team environment meant that she had passed some sort of bar.

Motoko met the two at the gate of the elevator and nodded to Saito before addressing Cathryn. "You're first assignment has been handed over to me for evaluation. I'm also to be your observer while the doctors do the transfer when you get everything selected for your new body."

Saito raised an eyebrow at this, but decided that it was reasonable for them to assign the only other female in their unit to watch over the newest recruit. Not to mention Motoko already knew what needed to happen since she had been through the process several times over the years. Any questions the young rookie had could easily be answered by the Major. "I'll be expecting her report then when she comes out of the transfer and initialization." Nodding to Motoko and then to Cathryn he stepped out of the elevator and watched as the Major stepped on to take the woman up another two floors to the medical facilities.

Cathryn decided that she had heard enough silence to last her lifetime and would hear more as she worked with her new partner and broke the silence between her and the Major. "Ne, Kusanagi-san, I can guess from his work what Saito's like out on the field, but what's everyone else like when they're on the clock?"

Motoko just couldn't put the 9 year old body before her into the adult mindset the woman was showing. It was unnerving to a degree, but could understand just how much more unnerving it would be for the woman who had been trapped in that body for the last few years. It was enough to make her agree without reservation to the idea that as soon as she came under Section 9's Aegis, that Cathryn would get a new body. The fact that Saito was paying out of his own pocket for the face sculptor to come in was a surprise, but she wasn't going to question his motives when it would only help their newest member readjust to her status faster.

"I suppose that with the influx of new people we've been training as of late, it will be hard for you to get to know everyone. But understand this. They all will have the same training up to their specializations where they will then branch out. You will have more training than most as you will be readjusting to a severe difference in height, weight, and reach. Saito will cover your firearms training, so you needn't fear anything there. Batou will be the general instructor and your hand to hand test giver when it comes time for that. He's a bit of a joker, but he's always serious about the training he will give you. Togusa is the current field commander and on the field is deadly as he is relaxed off assignment. If he feels you're ready to go on field work, then you've passed the bar set by myself, Togusa and the Chief. The Chief is the ultimate law around here and nine times out of ten a law unto himself. Assume nothing with him until you've had some time under your belt working with all of us. Currently he's uneasy with your assignment to Section 9, as are most of us. It seems that the only one firmly in your corner at the moment is Saito. I'd work hard to keep that one good opinion in your corner, your actions will speak for you more than your words will. We've all come to expect that from the snipers we've run across. You will be no different until you've proven yourself." It was the most Motoko had been heard to say outside of a mission briefing, but in a way this was Cathryn's briefing, she had covered most of the important team members that the younger woman would run across in her daily work routine, she'd have to introduce herself to Pazu, Borma, and Ishikawa whenever she came across them.

"Thanks. Sometimes I prefer my shake down briefs to come from people rather than paper, as there is only so much text can give you about a person. Especially if the dossier is more worried about vital stats than personality quirks." Cathryn was slightly relieved that her training would be taken seriously. It also seemed to her that she would be eventually accepted as a fully fledged member of Section 9 should she make it through her training and initial assignments. This wasn't how she expected to repay her debt to society, but in her opinion it was better than rotting away in a holding cell of a maximum security unit.

Stopping at the front desk they checked in and were shown to an empty room. In the room was a terminal that was already lit up and ready for use. Motoko logged into the terminal and brought up the specs of the various bodies they had chosen for her. "I'll let you look these over. I'll be back in a few minutes with the doctor and if you've made your choice by then we'll get you transferred over yet today."

Unspoken was the command that Cathryn was to take her time and really look the specs over. This would be her body and if she didn't know what she was getting into, literally, there would be problems down the line should she need updated or upgraded parts. Rolling herself up to the terminal Cathryn took hold of the mouse and started to look through her choices. Engrossed in her assignment she knew that knowing what her body could do would affect not only her choice, but how she presented her first report in that body.

Looking over the specs however she noticed that all of the bodies were chosen for specific height weight ratios that would allow her the strength to do her job, and still be presentable in any attire she should choose to wear. She didn't completely overlook the body builds as they were all a little different. However their specs ranged widely and while they all were set to help her with her job, none of them had the hawkeye upgrade. Pleased that they had taken Saito's report seriously she looked over carefully, and found that only one would really suit her. She'd come across as a little stockier than most women liked to, but she never really cared about her looks enough to bemoan the fact that she didn't look like the "ideal" woman.

The chosen body was a Megatech Class A, modified for the heavy lifting and stabilizing work she'd be doing as a sniper. Of the body types she had chosen this was the medium height and weight for the stats, but the build looked solid and not like the lithe types. Pulling up the full specs of the body she had initially chosen she started reading up on what all came with the little package deal she was getting. Only Motoko's knock on the door startled her out of her research and the woman seemed moderately pleased with the young sniper's choice in body and enhancements. "Not bad, lets get you transferred and initialized so you can start your report. The Chief expects it first thing in the morning." 


	9. Epilogue

Cathryn worked swiftly, her ability to now network with her partner during missions making the task given easier. "Saito," she called to her partner of three years in the other helo hovering on the other side of the building, "The image curtain's been taken care of, here's what I have." Sharing the visual data she had as she zoomed in on the people being held hostage she saw that a few were small children clinging to their parents in fear. The situation triggered her temper as she hated seeing children being used for anything. "Togusa, sitrep, fifteen adults and five children of varying ages are being held on the upper floors of the building. For now the situation is relatively calm, but the kids are scared out of their minds."

Togusa sighed to himself knowing that the kids would be Cathryn's primary concern now that they knew that they were in there. "Saito, Cathryn, do you think you can take out their guards without alerting their pals to the situation?"

Saito answered after a short pause, making Togusa wonder if they were networking outside the normal channels so no one could hear them. "Negative. Cathryn's side of the building has six guards for the meeting room she's covered, and the other side of the building I've counted another five at least who are on patrol. Meaning there are at least 18 covering the building from the inside."

"Fine then." Changing his focus on the coms, but still letting everyone hear he caught the sit reps from the other team members on this mission. "Major, Batou, you're going in, cover Cathryn's side of the building. Pazu, Borma You're on Saito's side of the building. Proto, you and Ishikawa are going to keep those in the security room from seeing that there is a problem until its too late."

"Ryoukai" Was the universal response to the action plan. Those running into the building activated their cloaking and started the raid. With Proto and Ishikawa playing havoc with the security systems there was next to no chance for the group holding the hostages to know that something was wrong.

The raid was going well until one of the subordinates got jumpy. "Boss, somethings not right." Cathryn had been keeping a close eye on the hostages and started to see more movement before she caught the comment from the underling. "Togusa, the underlings are getting jumpy. This isn't going to end well, the hostages are getting nervous."

"Understood, if the guards try anything stop them." The return order was a welcome one. Flicking the safety off her rifle she zoomed in on the room and picked her target. The most enervated of the guards. The door to the room exploded inwards and as he brought his weapon to bear on the hostages he quickly found himself unable to do anything. The bullet shattering his brain case and splattering its contents out the other side preventing the shots from being fired.

The room was quickly secured, Pazu and Borma having had less resistance than was expected had made it up to the hostages before the Major and Batou. Cathryn's single shot preventing the loss of any lives. The hostages were till in fear reactions, but at least they were alive to be scared out of their wits. Cathryn leaned back against her support seat and let relief and the adrenaline of the mission drain out of her. There was a warm congratulatory message in the back of her mind, reminding her that her network with Saito was still up for the mission. "Thanks Saito, I'll see you back on the ground." An affirmative was returned before the order came through their coms to recall for mission debriefing.

Her job never seemed to get easier, no matter how many missions she went on or what she did between those missions, but she had the freedom she desired, and now she was truly free. Her debt had been discharged and she was officially recognized as a member of Section 9. The official recognition didn't bother her one bit. It was what she did with it that made each nerve wracking mission worth the adrenaline. That and her ability to be understood by her team, she had been called Saito II by her team mates from time to time for her dislike of doing grunt work that was outside of her specialization, but Saito understood, and the knowing smirk he would throw her way when it happen made the teasing bearable. She was free. That was all that mattered. 


End file.
